Extreme Cold/Wind Chill in Montana
Every extreme cold/wind chill event the National Weather Service has filed in Montana, year by year, with the most significant episodes. Temperatures or wind chills at or below the local warning criteria, or cold that caused deaths.
The most significant on the map
The most significant extreme cold/wind chill episodes in Montana.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The record
- Events
- 704
- Deaths
- 1
- Injuries
- 0
- Damage
- None recorded
Every year
The most significant
Ranked by deaths, injuries, damage and size together.
- Extreme Cold in Montana, December 24, 2009Temperatures below zero occurred across the area.
- Blizzard and Extreme Cold in Montana, February 23 to 24, 2011A very moist Pacific weather system interacted with a cold Arctic air mass over western Montana to produce strong gusty winds, cold temperatures, very cold wind chill temperatures, blowing snow and local whiteout conditions.
- Extreme Cold in Montana, February 10 to 13, 2025A cyclonic flow aloft, with several embedded shortwaves passing through it, allowed for several pushes of bitterly cold air to filter into the region from Canada in the early to mid February timeframe.
- Blizzard and Winter Storm in Montana, December 19 to 23, 2022Arctic air dropped south from Canada the week before Christmas bringing widespread frigid wind chills to the region. The arctic front reported in strong wind gusts and blizzard conditions in Southwest Montana.
- Extreme Cold and Heavy Snow in Montana, January 11 to 15, 2024The Arctic cold front has passed into the Treasure State. Wintry conditions continued, bringing periods of light snowfall. Dangerously low wind chill values effected much of|North-central, Central, and Southwest Montana for the next several days.
- Extreme Cold in Montana, February 16 to 20, 2025Arctic cold and winds made for dangerously cold conditions.
- Winter Storm and Extreme Cold in Montana, January 26 to 30, 2023A long duration winter storm event occurred from roughly January 26 through January 28th as a powerful storm system affected much of the western United States. Periods of snow, heavy at times (especially across the mountains) occurred.
- Avalanche and Extreme Cold in Montana, February 11 to 13, 2021Over the week-long period of February 8-15, an arctic air mass settled over North-Central Montana, bringing one of the longest stretches of subzero temperatures in recorded history to the area (8 days at Great Falls, tied for 4th longest stretch).
- Extreme Cold in Montana, January 28 to 29, 2008An arctic front raced across northeast Montana during the early morning of the 28th bringing strong northwest winds, blowing snow and bitterly cold temperatures throughout the day. Extreme wind chills persisted into the morning of the following day.
- Blizzard and Winter Storm in Montana, January 4 to 7, 2022Another cold trough moved into the state for more sub-zero temperatures and wind chills. Warning criteria wind chill values (-40F) were more common with this surge than the previous one as a 1044 mb surface high moved southward from the Canadian Prairies.
- Extreme Cold and Heavy Snow in Montana, February 2 to 6, 2025Several waves ejecting from an upper level low near the Pacific NW coast resulted in periods of snow at times, with cold air filtering in from Canada resulting in extreme cold in northern areas.
- Winter Storm and Extreme Cold in Montana, February 15 to 19, 2025A stout closed low over Manitoba swung a shortwave around its western periphery and then southward toward the Northern Rockies Feb 16. The wave stalled over MT, resulting in a strongly cyclonic flow aloft, while the main upper disturbance exited eastward..
- Extreme Cold and Winter Weather in Montana, February 3 to 7, 2014Several reinforcing bouts of arctic air bring snow and extreme cold to western Montana. By the morning of Feb. 6, many valley locations saw air temperature readings between 30 and 40 degree below zero which caused businesses and school systems to close.
- Extreme Cold in Montana, March 1, 2014Arctic air moving south from Canada combined with breezy winds to bring very cold wind chill to Central Montana.
- Extreme Cold in Montana, February 10 to 11, 2025Arctic cold and winds made for dangerously cold wind chill conditions.
- Extreme Cold in Montana, February 23 to 24, 2023After loss of diurnal heating during the day on the 23rd of February, another round of frigid wind chills took place before Chinook winds were able to warm most areas up later on the 24th.
- Blizzard and Winter Storm in Montana, November 21 to 23, 2010Very cold arctic air moving out of Canada combined with a moist pacific storm system. This produced blizzard conditions across much of western Montana, along with very cold wind chill temperatures.
- Extreme Cold in Montana, February 1 to 3, 2007Sub-zero temperatures combined with north-northwest wind of 15 to 30 mph to produce widespread wind chills of 20 to 35 below zero.
- Extreme Cold in Montana, December 13 to 15, 2008An extremely strong arctic front moved into Montana in the early morning hours of Saturday December 13, 2008. Blizzard conditions occurred with the frontal passage while the coldest air of the season moved in behind the snowfall.
- Extreme Cold in Montana, December 19 to 21, 2008Northwest winds of 15 to 25 mph with some higher gusts combined with extremely cold arctic air and caused wind chill temperatures to drop below 40 degrees below zero for. Some locations had extreme wind chills for over 24 hours.
- Extreme Cold and Heavy Snow in Montana, December 26 to 30, 2021An arctic cold front pushed into Montana the day after Christmas, bringing subzero temperatures and dangerous wind chills to the plains. Some areas also saw some snowfall as the cold air pushed into the area.
- Extreme Cold and Cold in Montana, December 19 to 23, 2022An Arctic Air Mass brought the coldest temperatures that northeast Montana has seen in 3 years. Wind chills with this cold air outbreak measured lower than -60 degrees in places.
- Winter Storm and Extreme Cold in Montana, December 20 to 22, 2022A strong upper level jet and Pacific moisture combined with arctic air stalled over northwest Montana, led to multiple hours of heavy snow rates and difficult travel.
- Extreme Cold in Montana, February 1, 2011The center of a strong arctic high pressure moved through the Canadian prairies generating extreme cold conditions across northeast Montana with the combination of winds and frigid temperatures.
- Extreme Cold in Montana, January 31, 2011The center of a strong arctic high pressure moved through the Canadian prairies generating extreme cold conditions across northeast Montana with the combination of winds and frigid temperatures. The event continued for all the zones into February 1st.
More
Extreme Cold/Wind Chill everywhereEvery kind of event in Montana
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24.